Bioinspiration and Biomimetics: How animals and plants inspire new engineering materials and devices

Humans have looked to nature for inspiration from the time they started to make tools and machines. Famous examples include Leonardo Da Vinci’s flying machines inspired by birds, or George de Mestral’s hook and loop fasteners (Velcro) inspired by “sticky” burrs. Materials produced by nature are in many ways superior to their man-made counterparts, and they can teach many lessons to engineers. Today, researchers in biology, zoology, physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering are working to create materials which are inspired by nature (bioinspired and biomimetic materials). This display shows five recent examples of bioinspired structures and materials.